Rory McIlroy discusses ‘diminished’ PGA Tour product ahead of 2025 debut at Pebble Beach Pro-Am

Rory McIlroy makes his 2025 PGA Tour debut this week at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. This comes on the heels of his TGL debut and also his season opener on the DP World Tour, which took place a couple weeks ago.

All in all, golf content and competition have never been more readily available for the consumer. Between the stark rise in YouTube creators, three large professional circuits in the men’s game and a simulator primetime league, fans have a wide array of options in front of them. While the general consensus seems to be the more the better, sometimes more is just more and the constant additions can actually subtract from the main attraction.

“I think it [the PGA Tour product] already has been [diminished],” McIlroy said. “You know, I think it already has been diminished. I would say, yeah, look, the one thing about like … TGL’s only going to last two months. You get this sort of big burst of it in January, February and a little bit of March, then it’s done. It’s gone for 10 months, basically. I would say that is hopefully somewhat additive to the ecosystem. YouTube is like golf entertainment adjacent, whatever. Those guys are killing it. They found a niche, and it’s really cool and it serves a purpose for a lot of people. 

“But, look, I would much rather sit down and watch real golfers play real tournaments, and that’s just my opinion. That to me is more entertaining. But I understand that other people want something different, and that’s totally fine as well. I think there’s space for all of this. Yeah, I can see when the golf consumer might get a little fatigued of everything that’s sort of available to them. So, to scale it back a little bit and maybe have a little more scarcity in some of the stuff that we do, like the NFL, I think might not be a bad thing.”

Ideas to spice up the entertainment product have already been presented by McIlroy’s peers. Justin Thomas penned a letter last week to members of the PGA Tour to be more open with their time when it comes to possible broadcast enhancements such as pre-round interviews, walk-and-talks and various other obligations.

These modifications or additions would generally fall in line with the way of YouTube golf where creators are mic’d up for the entire round, provide insights and analysis on the golf shot at hand and let their hair down in between. While the PGA Tour and professional golf cannot edit rounds to fit it into a more timely window, McIlroy believes it still has the ultimate trump card: true competition between the world’s best. 

“It’s a hard one. I think, look, we’ve seen, like YouTube golf, for example, explode over the last couple years,” McIlroy said. “People will say that that’s more entertaining than maybe some of the competitive golf that’s out there, but it’s more relatable because you’re watching guys that maybe have a similar ability to what the general public have. Look, it’s a balance. When we’re growing up dreaming of professional golfers and trying to get the best out of ourselves, the last thing on our mind is being an entertainer. We’re competitive people at the end of the day; we want to play against the best players in the world and we want to try to come out on top. 

“I think that in itself should be entertaining to people, but I think in this day and age, you know, it’s become a hobby to bash golf and where golf is and is it entertaining, is it not entertaining. I came out on the wrong side of it last year, but I would say the last round of the U.S. Open was pretty entertaining last year and that was pure competitive golf. I think the more we can get to scenarios like that, the better.”

McIlroy was hesitant to provide other ideas on ways to improve lingering issues in professional golf, such as pace of play. He reluctantly offered up the option of reducing field sizes to reduce the time of rounds but noted that would come with limiting playing opportunities for his peers. Overall, the four-time major champion seems happy with where golf is and content with his playing doubling as his entertaining.

“I really like the way golf is and I think a lot of other people do, too, but I still understand the critiques of how the entertainment product could get better,” McIlroy said. “It’s a multifaceted thing, and I think pace of play is one thing. Player accessibility and all that, that’s what we’re talking about, but it takes a while to put that sort of ball into motion. 

“These are all the things that have been getting kicked around. But, like, first and foremost, we’re professional golfers, we want to go out there and shoot the best score possible that we can and try to beat each other. You know, hopefully people find that entertaining, and if not, then I don’t know what to tell them.”